I recently found an old box of photos. They were all taken about 20 years ago. Most of them were from a trip I took to Japan, for my old company. When I looked at the pictures, I remembered people and events that I had long since ceased to think about. It was somewhat strange to look at these photos and suddenly think back to another time, another place.
On this particular trip, one of several to Japan, I stayed there for about a month, which was typical of my trips to Japan. I was part of a group that was receiving training on some new computer products that my firm was manufacturing. They were a Japanese company and so we were there, at the factory where they were produced, receiving this in depth training on the care and service of these new products. Besides myself there was a gentleman from New York City and another from London England. There was one black man in our group. What I’m getting at is the fact that we stood out from the crowd in Japan. To top it all off, the factory that we mainly worked at was located out in the countryside, not in a large city. For convenience, we stayed in a nearby hotel. Since we were in a smaller community and not a large metropolis, which would be more used to international travelers, we stood out even more.
Wherever we went, the people would take note of the strangers in their midst. One series of photos that I have was taken at a train station. The station just happened to be the starting place of a Japanese children’s school day trip. They were all on this one chartered train that was literally packed with children between the ages of probably 6-10 years old. They were hanging out the windows yelling at us, as they had rarely, if ever, seen the likes of us, up close and personal. During this time I sported what was known as a “Fu Manchu” type mustache. It is the kind that then superstar, professional wrestler, Hulk Hogan wore. My friend from New York City, who happened to be African American, was wearing stylish, dark sunglasses. The children actually believed that I was Hulk Hogan and my dear friend of the time, David, was Stevie Wonder! We actually played along and let them believe it, even signing a few bogus autographs.
We learned that when you stand out, people notice you. They also believe that you are typical representatives of the culture that you come from. I guess in many ways we were, but in other ways we were not.
This was a glaring example of how impossible it was to blend in during that month in Japan. Believe me, the novelty wore off sometime during that month and it was great to get back to the good old USA, where we could once again blend into anonymity.
Sometimes we just like to fit in. That’s often one of the difficult parts of being God’s people. The Jews have always known this, and endured it. When you walk in obedience to God’s ways and character in a society that is foreign to these ways, one is bound to stand out. It can be challenging to always stand out. But isn’t that why we wanted to find God and His ways for in the first place; because our ways weren’t working?
The world may not mistake you for someone famous, or ask for your autograph because you stand for God’s ways and character, but in a strange way, when you do, it actually does mean that you’re a star. Blessings!

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